Just happen to be in my local Wal-Mart this morning picking up a few things before work,
swing by the sporting goods dept to get some therma-cell fuel cells and there are like 10 people standing
around the gun/ammo counter, so I say y'all must be here for ammo, huh ? I've heard about this :head:
and think to myself, no wonder there is never any ammo in stock, anyway about this time the lady wheels
out a stock cart with 3-4 small cases of ammo on it, IMMEDIATELY several of them say to her "that can't be all
you have in stock and they commence to tell her what should be on the cart, she says, well, that's all I saw, they ask
(demand might be a better word) her to go to the back and check again, which she does with a nice attitude, so by this
time I'm curious, so I stick around. She comes back out with another cart that has probably 20 cases of different types
of ammo on it....Now they look happy :shrug: as this is going on more people show up. So I ask, is it like this every day ?
They all look at me with blank stares like it is highly classified information, then they lady says out loud, "Well after a whileyou get used to seeing the same faces every day. Many of them are leaning all the way over the counter lookingto see what she has (obviously some of them already knew) on the cart. Urika..... she actually has some 550 round boxes of Federal 22 LR ammo at $26 dollars a box. Feeling like I'm going to be missing out I get in at the end of the line as welland buy my one allowed brick of 22 ammo. The nice Wal-Mart employee says to me under her breath as if she is a bitafraid that the same people show up every day and buy the ammo before anyone else has a chance to buy it!
She said several of them even bring their wives or ask other people in the store to buy it on their behalf.
Soooo, am I crazy or is this JUST PLAIN WRONG ?????? She also said there is no way they could be using/shooting all the
ammo they are buying up every day and must be re-selling it or hoarding it. Kinda pisses me off !!!!!!
Sorry for the long rant, just felt the need to vent and read others opinion on this matter

It may be time to feel sorry for the hoarders and flippers. CCI 22lr was $6.99/50 ct box several weeks ago at local Scheels. A week later, it was $3.88 for the same box. It must be sad to watch your investment loose value each day.

Ya, last time I got a bill from my attorney his hourly rate was marked up pretty darned high

In all seriousness, I'm kind of tired of all the whining that a few people are buying all the ammo and GOUGING, HOARDING, PREPPING, or whatever other names people use. Use some logic. IF, and it's a BIG IF, we believe that ammo sells out in the first ten minutes EVERYWHERE, and IF, BIG IF, we believe the same people show up every day AT THE SAME STORE to buy the ammo, what kind of business can be had on a 3 lousy boxes a day? AND IF, a BIG IF, people didn't pay outrageous prices on the secondary market, there would be even less money in it.

I've said it at least a dozen times on one of these threads here, I've been able to get ammo at most every time of the day at various Walmart Stores over the past 8 months. That includes .22, 9mm, .40, .45, and .45C. I've actually been able to keep up and even surpass what I've shot and NEVER paid for it on the secondary market. I've had to work at it a bit harder, around my normal 50-55 hour week. Many times there was nothing there but many times there was. I have a group of friends, we know what each other needs, we buy and help each other out. You could have just as easily marked me in you list of names because I often bought stuff I couldn't shoot. I bought it for others. I just bought some brass from another person on this forum even though I've got plenty. WHY? BECAUSE a friend of mine needs it and has difficulties getting what he needs. I bought him powder and primers too.

IMHO, we'd all be better off with a little less name calling, a little less jumping to conclusions, and a lot more putting the effort from whining into getting the ammo you may want.

The ammo is out there, no one is stopping you from finding it except yourself.

I have bought ammo over the years and have stock piled it. I've not been forced to pay ridiculous prices because of it. If most shooters did this, there would not be any profit for the hoarders/sellers. It's not a one group issue, the people who failed to buy ammo along are just as guilty as the gougers, they are the ones creating the market.

The price of ammo will come down, eventually supply will outstrip demand, stock up then and you can wait with the rest of us for the crying to begin, it happens every time there's a run on ammo, which has been at least 6 times in the last few years, people never learn.

Reselling it - maybe.

Hoarding it, definitely not. Hoarding is the act of uncontrollably collecting items with no plan to use them.

The correct term is laying it in, saving it up, or if you prefer to say it with a smirk, "prepping".

You see, there are those among us who firmly believe that things are not going to get better anytime soon and we should have enough ammunition on hand to last until the Conservatives return to power which should be oh, I don't know, the year 2020.

As far as how you feel about it, I have to say I did not take that into account when I began saving up for a rainy day. Still don't as a matter of fact.

But I will offer you some free advice. Calculate how much ammunition you would prefer to shoot over a month's time. Multiply that by 12 to get a year's worth, then multiply that by 7 to get you to 2020. Now, you can order it on line, get in line, make your own, or take a road trip to an ammo abundant state, like Ohio.

It doesn't spoil, it doesn't take up much room and it will never be appreciably cheaper.

"Hello Grasshopper - this a public service announcement from the Ant."

The only thing we have learned from history is that we learn nothing from history.

Oh, and this is not a game.

I am not "playing" - fair or otherwise.

You need to ask the walmart manager if he/she would switch the times of the day they put the ammo out.

REALLY, this is what the solution should be? Change the world to make it more convenient for you? Is this what helicopter parenting has brought us?

Yikes, I can't believe we still have people buried in this mess. How do you solved not getting a reservation at the restaurant, not getting the tee time you wanted, not getting the freshest produce at the market, not getting the best steak from the butcher. Would have loved to seen the blogs during gas rationing in the 70's (which wasn't that difficult). However, by the standards of this ammo blip, it was Armageddon!

Have we created a generation of entitled ones. By now my Dad would have taken all my firearms and said, "Son, problem solved. You no longer need ammo".

@smokingdog
What is wrong with my post? Others have said some stores have done it. Why not change the stock time to random times to help the normal buyers that have a life and might use it for themself.

I am not one standing in line and i have been able to get plenty of ammo.

Agreed up until here, it always goes up with a panic and subsides after, but it never truly returns to pre-panic prices. It always higher than before, just look at 22lr post 2008. Slightly higher prices just become the new norm each time.

You asked and answered your own question.

i have been able to get plenty of ammo.

Why not single out insurance agents, health insurance companies or for that matter, any type of insurance company, used car sales people, door-to-door scam artists or, as was said in the Bible, "tax collectors and other sinners?"

Now, I realize you put in a smiley face, so this is not so much meant for you, but it sparked the need to speak out about this business of generalized bashing that seems to go on regularly on this forum and elsewhere. Remember, that we all may need an attorney for a firearms related matter, and we will most assuredly need one for some other business that we are likely to encounter as we go through life, whether that be to collect the rent from a tenant or sue a slumlord, or get us a settlement when a drunk hits our car or to help sort out the probate mess when grandma passes away without fixing up her estate first.

Remember this wisdom before we all start name-calling: A "liberal" is a conservative who just got arrested. A "conservative" is a liberal who just got robbed. We are all just one incident away from a complete change of perspective.

There are probably more pro-gun lawyers out there than anti-gun. It is juries who give out crazy awards. They are typically not lawyers. Can't these lay people on juries "just say no?" Why not bash them?

What about doctors (my oldest daughter is one)? There are many of those (not my daughter) who has drank the Journal of American Medical Association "Kool-Aid" that guns are an "epidemic" akin to a disease. Doctors have crazy high fees if you pay cash, but accept discounts of up to 90% if the health insurance is paying the bill. Same for hospitals.

So, if we are going to go name-calling, even as a joke, let's pick on all of the idiots who prey on us equally in the name of hoarding or capitalism or conspiracy theory or whatever.

Again, no offense to you so much as to the many who hurl real insults at lawyers and others on a regular basis, including some very nice ones that come on this forum and try to help with legal advice that often posters just will not accept and so instead of learning, they bash the messenger.

The way we treat lawyers on this forum, I am surprised any of them are pro-gun.

Sorry about that.

End of rant.

I go to the local Walmart a couple times a week for 22's and get just enough to keep four of us shooting. I never resold or hoarded any but it doesn't last long shooting 300 or more rounds per session.
If somebody is making a profit doing this, I can't see how.

Q) "What do you throw a drowning lawyer?"

A) His partner.

Da Dump Dump...Ching.

Thank you, thank you very much. Appearing here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress.



(just couldn't resist that one)

On a serious note (maybe )...

I've got "my" stash over the last half year with no muss, no fuss, no strain, and NO paying double what it was a year ago. I just made it a point to look for those who weren't gouging or those who were selling at normal markup. Then I would go out of my way to visit them regularly. It worked.

SUPER kudo's to WalMart imo for keeping their standard profit margin. Same with Academy Sports here in Louisiana. And Cabela's too.

I did, slightly, cut down on training/shooting as I made up what I shot per outing but...I've managed to maintain around 1000 rounds in the calibers I shoot as a stash and replace as needed.

If you want to sell at double the price, or buy at double the price, more power to ya. I don't try to tell others what to sell or buy. I do try to take care of myself and those around me and have been able to do so during this "crisis".

Greed works...

I'm surprised they're not all armed.

Ummm. NO, it is not a "BIG IF" around here and a lot of other places. It is a fact that a few people are buying up most of the ammo first thing in the morning at Wal-Mart and other stores (or whenever that store stocks it)

Here is the BIG IF: YOU would be the one the only person I have heard this from who has be able purchase 22, 9mm, 223, etc. at "almost every time of the day at various Wal-Mart stores in the past 8 months". unless... you work as a Wal-Mart manager ?????

Probably not gonna happen. One of my family members works at a Walmart store, and told me the store employees work the stock right after it gets unloaded off the truck, or shortly after unloading, in the a.m. Most of the trucks get to most of the stores overnight, or early morning. It works this way for most of the departments in the store, not just sporting goods. It's not company/store policy to hold stock in the back room. If your there in line for ammo at the right time, good for you. If not, oh well.

From what i have seen stores have differnert rules. The ammo must be locked up as soon as it is off loaded but that can mean out in the store or in a manager office. With some stores being 24 hr and some not. Even the 24 hr stores dont all staff the ammo section all night.

Try the one store by me. There is no ammo case. It is in the cabinet by the sporting goods. So you can not see what they have. If you are lucky enough to get someone, they usually just say "all out". Then you make them open the doors but you are not really permitted in the u-shaped area. So you cant see the ammo if they are nice enough to open the door.

So to recap, i have one non 24 hr store that doesnt want to help(rumor they have the 7am line!) one that stocks as it gets off loaded and is available all night. Another that is 24 hr but locks up the ammo till morning and another that have yet to ask the rules!

It's a rare day for me to find any wal mart ammo unless you shoot 22-250.
So as someone posted about finding ammo at all times of the day he's lucky to live where that happens.

YEP... OR God Forbid, he's not telling the whole truth

There are bottom feeders in every group of people.

I used to think we gun owners and shooters were different but sadly we are not. "It's just Capitalism at work" and "Screw thy brother" are the mantra of the bottom feeder.

No apology necessary, Shawn. Yours was perhaps the most intelligent, diplomatic and well thought out commentary amongst all of the responses.

Seems we've been down this road before more times than I want to remember...

To the OP, the only words of encouragement I can offer are: Don't give up and keep trying. Make friends. The more connections you can establish with store owners, the better. Well established business relationships can make all the difference in the world. Ammo is out there to be had, but sound deals just require a bit more effort to find than usual.

What we did during the ammo shortage (to get back at the hoarders). Me and a few fellow employees would get our friends together every morning and beat the hoarders to the ammo. This way they had less ammo to get. They managed to get some ammo, but they didnt get nowhere near what they wanted. In return me and my buddies would sell it at the local range for the price on our receipts.

We asked of nothing in return except that other shooters should get together and do the same thing if possible. Granted a few times we did get a few extra dollars (as common courtesy), but we never asked for it. Now here in our city and near by cities, we seem to have ammo every where we look.

Maybe the hoarders got tired of us beating them to their profit ammo and us selling it for receipt price. So now they dont seem to want to try soo hard at buying and reselling the ammo.

Just an idea for you guys that you may want to try if you have some free time.

This situation will have to run it's cycle and be over with. I will remember the names of the retailers who took advantage of the people in the name of "capitalism" and let them know the the "free market" means I shop elsewhere.

I am a normal buyer. With money I earn at a very stable job, supplemented by money I earn selling stuff on line. You know, the "second job" many of us have found in order to fund our hobbies.

I have a life. My life begins daily at 5 AM, the same as it has since about 1979. 40-plus hours a week in the day job and when the mood strikes, an hour or two doing the second job.

I use it for myself. At least weekly. A couple hundred rounds at a time. And I stash some for later, too.

And I have never found it necessary to try and cut back room deals because the early birds are getting the worms.

Oh wow, "The Early Bird Gets The Worm" - I just thought that up - kinda catchy don't you think?

The early bird might get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese

Hey mods!

Given the multitude of these threads and the "importance" of addressing the "issue", maybe a new Forum titled "Hoarders, Flippers and Gougers - Why my lack of ammo is not my fault!".

To help these folks, the least we could do is make it easier for some to find all the "like minded" discussions as it appears putting forth effort to achieve is a limited trait these days.

Interesting tone the hoarders take when they manage to push out the regular consumers by going to the stores, telling them what they have in stock and demanding it be stocked to their convenience. Gun show yesterday had several hoarders trying to sell (no takers that I saw) CCI LR for $20 a box when I bought the same at $6.99 a box at Walmart that morning... guess the hoarders were busy setting up their tables that morning and had no time to harass the Walmart employees... News flash - they are NOT going to stop making it and soon there will be ammo on the shelves any time of the day. The hoarders will be giving ammo away as Christmas presents cause they invested all their disposable income in a bad venture!

1. How do you make the distinction of "a regular customer". I don't understand how someone can "push out the regular consumers by going to the stores". Do you mean they got up earlier than you did? Do you mean they put forth more effort than you did? Are you saying that you want to only allow you and your friends in the store in the first place?
2. A hoarder would never sell. You keep saying hoarders are selling. A hoarder would never sell.
3. Gouger - If there were no takers, the price was too high, problem solved.
4. If the nasty hoarders buy up all the ammo EVERY morning as you say, how in the HECK did you get some for $6.99 that morning? Are you saying ALL the hoarders in the world were at that gun show? I thought your premise is there is a vast line of hoarder conspirators rigging things with the Walmart employees
5. The only people I've seen being RUDE and with a "tone" to store employees are the ones glued to their electronic leashes, complaining they have no ammo, and salivating over the "Official this or that in stock ammo thread" instead of being prepared and rationale. Most but not all are much younger. I go in the stores and have gotten to know people. I talk to them. I ask nicely. I respect them. I also don't NEED to buy anything. I've left Walmart stores with 100 rd WWB 9, 40, and 45 on the shelves. I've also picked up MOST of my 22 @ 3-5 cents, 9 @ 25ish cents, 40 @ 30-35 cents, and 45 @ 40-45 cents. Don't see it getting substantially cheaper than that anytime soon (except for the FED 100 45 boxes that started to show up at $28.97, I buy all of that I can get my hands on, got 6 of them this morning after visiting 3 different Walmarts. Oh wait, that's impossible because someone was in line to buy it all before me, ... AN HOUR AGO when I used my lunch break to go look).
6. Why would I be "stuck" with ammo to give away if I've only bought at the current market from the low cost provider for the purposes I've deemed appropriate?
7. There already is ammo on the shelves throughout the day.
8. What I do with my disposable income, how much of a product I feel I need to have, and how I manage my affairs are absolutely positively something you can speculate about all day long.
9. YIKES!!!!!

Honestly, we need to get logic 101 reintroduced into the curriculum.

Sorry mods! I'm done with this ongoing quagmire!